Current and future writing projects

[Locke]

I think it would would be better - for you, and for the story, especially given your organizational bent - if you started over completely. Leave the old story up, start the new one alongside, and let the two run concurrently until you're sure the new has subsumed the old.

But I'm really not sure how you edit. Maybe it will help to go room by room, and color/cross them out on your flow chart as you finish them (in which case it makes sense to edit the existing story).

Will having the "old" story for side-by-side comparison help?

Will it help morale/motivation/organization to go room by room, editing, crossing them out one by one on your flow chart?

I see those as the two questions to answer, and if you can't decide that way, keep the old one and start a new one. The old story will provide an "archive" of sorts, and as you write the new material, you won't be bound as much by the preceding text (though you'll still have it for reference). If it's not just a matter of punctuation and minor word changes - if you can confront that blank space and write the rooms without the "frame" of what you did in the first place - start a new story. And copy/paste as necessary

I wish I had the kind of dedication it takes to create a flow chart of your story like that, btw - never mind the actual writing process. That's a gift, or at least a certain strength of character.

[Dragavan]

There will be no copy/pasting at all. The old story was started nearly 10 years ago and my writing has changed, grown, and improved a lot since then. All copy/paste would do is plug lesser writing into the new one. The whole thing is going to be reworked from scratch (as far as the writing is concerned). Also, the name of the main character is going to change, as I don't like the lame alliteration of his old name (he's not a Marvel/DC comic character), so that would also be bad for copy/paste.

As for the actual writing of it, that's all going to be done offline (as I always do). Every single page/story written on this (or any) site is written on my computer in a word processor and saved as a file first. The old story, in fact, is a single Word document, which I'm not going to do this time. Separate files for every page, named for organization and ease of finding them.

Once the whole thing is written, then I will start to upload them. Once they are all uploaded, I will make the story public. Until that time, the old story will be around, because I see no reason to touch it while I am writing offline.

Not that any of this really matter right now. We know it's going to take a good while to write this whole story, even if I go at a good clip, so we are not talking about a choice I have to make right now.


The funny thing is, the part I am most looking forward to is the clean slate with the ratings. I know I could get that same basic effect by clearing the ratings my old story, but that would feel cheap to me for some reason. I'll just be glad to to start over with them and not have that one "joke" rating in there that killed my old rating.

[Dragavan]

I started writing (and already had to add two rooms to my monster flowchart) and discovered something I didn't anticipate. I knew the main character was getting a name change, but I didn't expect that the story would not in third-person limited present tense this time. Instead, it's in first-person past tense (at least once we pass the first page, which is still third-person limited present tense), told from the perspective of the main character's memories of events. Funny how these things can catch you off guard sometimes in your own work.

Oh, and yay for following my own post in a thread... I am teh cool now.

[mizal]

I've never had any luck rewriting old stories. When I come up with scenes they play out in my head like a movie, and rewriting is like going back and trying to recreate them shot for shot from memory...ultimately I'm too tied to the original, I can't do anything truly new and the whole thing becomes pointless and frustrating. It's infinitely easier to just comb over an old story repeatedly and change the wording of anything that jumps out at me as terrible. (everything)

I guess that's basically the same thing as a total rewrite but I still wish I didn't feel so leashed to the old version. It may have something to do with outlining every plot down to the minutiae before I even start writing. "If I don't include this line then that line fifteen pages later won't make any sense!" and etc.

e: nvm

[Dragavan]

It may have something to do with outlining every plot down to the minutiae before I even start writing. "If I don't include this line then that line fifteen pages later won't make any sense!" and etc.

That's what second draft edits are for. The first draft is not where you worry about details like that. The first draft (no matter what kind of writer you are) should be about just getting the story out and not worrying about the little details or quality. Once you have that part down you go through it and do a second draft, which is where you find all those inconsistencies and problems and fix them. Then you usually do a third, fourth, and even more drafts as needed.

The thing about how this site works, you usually only get first draft (or sometimes what I would call a draft and a half) stuff posted, since it is posted as the story is in progress. Some people like to write the whole story offline and then post, possibly after editing, but most don't. That's what I am trying to do with my rewrite. I am doing a full draft (half of which will be a second draft of what I had before) that I will go through and edit as best I can before posting.

[mizal]

Some people like to write the whole story offline and then post, possibly after editing, but most don't. That's what I am trying to do with my rewrite. I am doing a full draft (half of which will be a second draft of what I had before) that I will go through and edit as best I can before posting.

Yeah, this is what I'm doing with all of my stuff now. I've been telling people I write for a hobby for nearly two-thirds of my life and it's kind of depressing me now that as far as actual completed stuff goes I have less than a dozen stories in the 5000 word range to show for it. I think the problem is I'm a bit of a perfectionist--I have to actively force myself to do the 'rough draft' thing, my first instinct is to rewrite and rearrange a sentence over and over again and agonize over things like using the word 'trees' three times in the same paragraph--and also I enjoy working out the history and geography and flora and fauna and religion and culture of my made up worlds about a million billion times more than actually writing about them in the form of a story.

Come to think of it I kind of hate the actual writing part, excessive outlining is probably my subconscious way of getting the warm fuzzies about making progress on a project without actually having to work on it for real.

[Dragavan]

I think the problem is I'm a bit of a perfectionist--I have to actively force myself to do the 'rough draft' thing, my first instinct is to rewrite and rearrange a sentence over and over again and agonize over things like using the word 'trees' three times in the same paragraph

This is a common trap of many writers. I even fight it all the time. But editing as you write a first draft is one of the most unhelpful things you can do if you ever want to finish in a timely fashion. It also generally doesn't help to keep the story straightened out, since you should still do a full edit after finishing anyway. You can't really catch everything while you are mired in the writing of it. They say you should step away for a week or two (or even more) before starting your full edit on a story. That allows you to get fresh eyes on it.

Come to think of it I kind of hate the actual writing part

I hear this discussed a lot on other writing sites I go to that actually discuss the process of writing more than the (much more entertaining) nonsense that goes on here. Many people seem to like to "have written", more than the actual process of writing. I actually enjoy the writing itself (especially if it's flowing like a motherfucker) and sometimes get depressed when I am done, wanting it to continue. That's why some of my writing days seem to go on late into the night if I'm on a roll.

[Dragavan]

Remember this image I posted a while back?



Well, I will still use it as reference, rather than making a new one to post since I only made a few very small changes to it (adding a few rooms as I went).

I just finished all the "shared" (white area) pages and now have to choose which of the three major paths I am going to write next (the three colored sections). I think I will do the Horror Ritual (pink) line first, but I am also tempted to do the True Horror (yellow) line next. I think it would work better if I did it the other way around, since knowing what could be/is going on behind the scenes would help write it, but it just seems like it would be fun to write as everything goes wrong for them. No matter what, the Horror/Action (green) line will be done after the Horror Ritual (Pink) line, since it relies too heavily on me knowing exactly what would be happening at the same time if things were going as planned.

[End Master]

Eternal

Chapter 3B2 nearly finished! I have completed the main branch leading to the epilogue. All I need to do is go back and finish up all the minor branches and I can finally post the Shadow Guard path in its entirety.

[End Master]

Eternal

The Shadow Guard path is complete.

All that has to be done now is to look over everything and possibly make any last minute additions if necessary. Then its just a matter of uploading everything onto the site.

[dreamshell]

About goddamn time!

I mean...

Looking forward to reading it!

*grateful no one would think to inquire about his own project*

[End Master]

Eternal: 90% Completed (I think)

Updated the story with the new Shadow Guard path. Eight major epilogues total are now available.

Now to the complete the last major branch (and last two epilogues) though I'll probably take a small break before doing that.

[mizal]

So what have you assholes been up to lately? This site isn't as fun anymore, there was all this bitching and drama and now nothing for like over a month.

But I'm not lazy like you guys so I'm working on a story, it's not a real story with a real protagonist though (though I am writing a real story with a real protagonist too...it's just that it's a story without interactivity like the kind they used to carve on stone tablets or dead trees so I doubt anyone here would be interested) it's more of a strategy game where you have to build and manage a city from scratch. And I may wind up having to post it on CYS instead because we have no variables here -- what's the deal with that anyway why do the bratty preteens get the better site.

[Usoki]

And I may wind up having to post it on CYS instead because we have no variables here -- what's the deal with that anyway why do the bratty preteens get the better site.

This debate comes up on a fairly regular basis, actually. The bottom line is basically that CYS is for games, while IS is specifically for stories. Variables are a slippery slope. The moment your story is open-ended enough to require variables is also the moment where it's not really a story anymore. I think apathy usually wins out, although this is one of those rare subjects that is pretty much guarenteed to bring Dragavan out of his lurking habits.

As far as what I've been doing, I think it could safely be summed up as 'procrastinating on IWT 9'. I'm probably going to give it a few more weeks before deciding if we'll need to scale back the rubric to save participation.

[mizal]

This debate comes up on a fairly regular basis, actually. The bottom line is basically that CYS is for games, while IS is specifically for stories. Variables are a slippery slope. The moment your story is open-ended enough to require variables is also the moment where it's not really a story anymore. I think apathy usually wins out, although this is one of those rare subjects that is pretty much guarenteed to bring Dragavan out of his lurking habits.

What if I want to change an important line of dialogue or have a new option pop up based on a decision you made twenty rooms ago though? A variable doesn't make it 'not a story', it makes it 'not a dumb story with two sets of nineteen identical rooms'.

Right now the only way to avoid a ton of pointless copy and pasting is to have every choice have immediate consequences, which more often than not just leave you with an unwieldy and bloated storyline with way too many plot branches. I want to do more subtle things, like giving the reader a choice to kill a character or let them live but not having any repercussions for that until a ways further down the line.

I actually lied about my city ruling story - in the current version you do have a character, they just pretty much never leave their throne-room. The whole thing takes place over the course of centuries and ideally a big part of it involves your decisions coming back to bite you years after you'd forgotten about them.

It can be managed somehow without variables I guess but that might involve compromises and pains in the ass I'm not willing to deal with when CYS is available as an (annoying) alternative.